How AI Changed Businesses in 2024

The arrival of GenAI has fueled the rapid growth of AI utilization and adoption, says a new study.

The 2025 AI & Data Leadership Executive Survey is an invitation-only survey designed to serve as an industry benchmark of Fortune 1000 and global business leaders. The latest edition polled senior business leaders from 125 leading companies.

Deriving business value from AI

As overall investments in AI and data initiatives rise, organizations now report that they are seeing some business value from their AI investments. This is despite the fact that many Fortune 1000 companies are at an early stage in their AI initiatives.

This could be measured by metrics such as increased customer acquisition and retention, improved customer satisfaction, and revenue and productivity improvements. Across the board, there is a common trend of acceleration in terms of business value.

Specifically, three out of four organizations polled (74.8%) say it comes from productivity gains and customer service improvement, especially through efficiencies resulting from the application of GenAI on traditional production processes.

Transformation will be gradual for most

Organizational transformation due to AI is seen as steady but gradual. While most characterize their AI efforts to be at an early stage, a growing percentage of companies are moving more quickly, with 23.9% reported implementing AI in production at scale this year, up from just 4.9% a year ago. This represents a staggering 500% improvement.

The usual issues persist, however. Unsurprisingly, companies struggle with cultural barriers to transformation. Indeed, 91.2% say culture is the greatest barrier to business transformation, not technology, while a mere 32.5% report that they have developed an AI and data culture, barely an improvement over the 24.4% that achieved this goal five years ago.

“Most organizations continue to struggle with adoption and transformation, with cultural challenges noted as the greatest obstacle to progress,” wrote Randy Bean, who coauthored the survey and findings.

Organizations are hiring chief AI officers

According to the study, AI and data leadership continues to be in high demand. Almost every company (84.3%) says they have hired a chief data and analytics officer, compared with just 12% when the survey was launched in 2012.

On the other hand, organizations struggle with the effectiveness of these roles. Half (52.4%) report they struggle with turnover and say the role is still nascent and evolving. For most organizations (77.8%), the average tenure has been less than three years.

Ultimately, Chief Data Officers (CDO/CDAO) continue to struggle to be successful. According to the report, just 47.6% characterize the role as very successful, while 52.4% see the role as nascent and evolving, and 4.8% view the role as a failure.

Bean compared the arrival of GenAI to a “once-in-a-generation transformation moment” akin to the founding of the Internet in the 1990s.

“This year’s survey teaches us that although business transformation tends to unfold over time, there are moments when the dynamic changes and transformation accelerates,” he wrote. “… we are living in one of these moments, where the future is unfolding in our presence. It’s an exciting time to be building the data and AI future.”

The full report can be accessed here (pdf).

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